At The Manor
by Lizzy Pheonix
Summary: Quidditch Fanfiction League Round 4 Entry Chaser 3 Ballycastle Bats


1"I hear the world is ending soon. When we go, and we are all going to go, I will be part of it." – Neil Hilborn, This Is The End,

2. A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous.- Ingrid Bergman,

3. Addiction.

At the Manor

It was the first day of Christmas holidays. Not that it much affected Draco; the youngest Malfoy had not returned to Hogwarts this year. Still, he couldn't help but stare out his bedroom window and think of his friends. He'd received only a few letters from them, but it was a small comfort to know that school was not much better than home. That hadn't stopped him from begging both his parents and Headmaster Snape to convince the Dark Lord to let him return. Sadly, it had been for naught.

His aunt Bellatrix had been the most virulent toward his request. "When the world belongs to The Dark Lord, do you really think such things as N.E.W.T.'s will matter?" she'd laughed wildly. "Our Master will look only upon those who have served him well and willingly. You ought to be grateful to have been given a chance such as this. Don't you want to please your Lord, Draco?"

Draco was not fool enough to answer anything other than yes. He remained at the Manor, his small consolation being that he was far below the Dark Lord's radar most of the time. The same could not be said for Aunt Bellatrix – tormenting him relentlessly with the Cruciatus Curse, mixed in with a few of her other favorites. Her 'lessons,' equally as cruel, ranged in a variety of her favorite torture methods that Draco was forced to employ. No matter how much his skin crawled, or how his throat filled with bile, he was forced to do her bidding as he looked into the faces of those helpless muggles.

Draco continued watching through the window as several cloaked men moved swiftly across the grounds. They had someone smaller between them, tripping and stumbling as they dragged them along. Draco closed his eyes tightly and allowed himself a silent prayer to any deity who might be listening.

Don't let it be another Muggle child.

It didn't take long for Draco to learn that killing children was the worst of it all. He hadn't been asked to harm one yet, but Greyback took particular joy in killing them, often making a show of it. If the Dark Lord was in the Manor, attendance was mandatory. If he wasn't, Draco still went so his Aunt Bellatrix wouldn't interpret his absence as a weakness that needed exploiting. The cloaked men and their newly acquired guest disappeared from Draco's sight, and he went back to staring at nothing amid the snow covered grounds, waiting tensely for the inevitable to happen. Sure enough, moments later, his dark mark began to burn.

* * *

When Draco stepped into the Mars room, once his mother's favorite parlour and now the Dark Lords personal torture room, Draco didn't know whether to jerk back in horror or sigh in relief upon his arrival. The girl who stood between Dolohov and the elder Crabbe was not a Muggle child, she was a classmate – Luna Lovegood. He made a point of knowing every pureblood girl within two years of him – knowing these were the stock from which he would choose his future wife. He never seriously considered the Lovegood girl, of course – her family was one that represented the tendency for madness that all purebloods eventually encountered.

She looked very small, trapped between the two large Death Eaters, and everything from her pale blond hair to her vibrant polka dotted dress stood out against the drab colors of the Mars room and her captors. When she heard the door snap closed behind him she turned and smiled warmly at him. "Hello Draco, is this your home? It's quite large." Her tone was buoyant and oddly disconnected.

This was made even stranger by the fact that she seemed utterly unconcerned with the knowledge that she'd been taken captive by Death Eaters. Draco was saved from trying to answer when the door slammed open and The Dark Lord glided into the room.

Much to Draco's relief, the Dark Lord's eyes passed over him as if he were invisible. But he tensed when he saw the Dark Lord's red eyes settle on Luna. The lipless mouth pulled into something sinister smile, and Draco shuddered at the thought of what repulsive ideas the Dark Lord was brewing in his twisted mind. Luna Lovegood, however, did not seem concerned, meeting the Dark Lord's red eyes with her own wide blue ones. Her face showed no signs of alarm. If anything, she looked as though she were considering something.

"Ah yes, you are the Lovegood girl. Your father has been printing some very unpleasant things about me," Voldemort told her dangerously.

Luna did not respond but continued to stare up at him.

The Dark Lord smirked, seeming to take her silence as either fear or acquiescence. "I have told him I will hold you here until I am satisfied he has changed his ways. You see, young Lovegood, the world as you have known it is ending soon. When it ends, life as you and your father and those like you have known it will also end. When the end comes you must go with it or you will simply go. I will be part of this great ending! Indeed I will be the cause of it, but each of you serve a purpose. Each of my Death Eaters are a part of this great end. Tell me, young Lovegood, would you like to join us and help to form a better world?"

Draco knew this speech was as much for the benefits of the other Death Eaters as it was for Lovegood. Sometimes Draco wondered if the Dark Lord simply enjoyed the sound of his own voice with the way he droned on to his latest captives. He quickly stomped that thought down however. He didn't want to know what the Dark Lord would do to him if he managed to skim the surface of his mind.

Luna, however, slowly blinked again before tilting her head to the side. "You have the worst case of Seapriezes I have ever seen. Sometimes a long bath in water infused with Alihotsy is enough to clear them...but I think you'd better also try a Mandrake tea infused with Wiggentree pods. I suppose if you did it everyday it may clear the infestation. It's gotten very bad. I'm afraid there may not be a cure," she calmly replied. For the first time since Draco met the Dark Lord he looked bewildered, but only for a moment as his face quickly morphed into rage. His eyes landed on Dolohov, and before the Death Eater could do more than tense he was on the ground, writhing in agony.

"I commanded you to bring the child unharmed! It is clear she is quite mad! You fools, what have you done?!" he hissed, his voice low and dangerous with rage.

"My Lord," Crabbe spoke, his dull voice shaking with fear.

The Dark Lord turned his eyes on the large wizard and lifted the curse on Dolohov. "Yes Crabbe?" he hissed.

"We did not c-crucio the girl. She has acted oddly since we captured her; I swear it, My Lord." Crabbe then fell to his knees shaking, and the Dark Lord examined him thoughtfully before nodding.

"Very well. I see you are speaking the truth, but regardless of the cause the child madness, she is useless to me. Toss her in the dungeon with the others. We can only hope her fool of a father will still obey our commands in order to secure his daughter's freedom."

* * *

It was Draco's job to feed the prisoners. His Aunt Bellatrix had assigned it to him, and while Draco knew it was meant to be in an insult – it was the work of house elves after all – but he didn't mind the job. He could stay down in the dungeons for hours and no one would come to look for him. It was quiet and reminded him of Hogwarts. At first, the captives had shouted abuse at him or tried to buy their freedom, but as their numbers dwindled, they simply stopped acknowledging him.

That changed when Luna arrived.

Everyday she greeted him with a warm smile and a soft thank you as he passed her the tray of food he was meant to bring. After a week in which her spirit seemed no less warm Draco finally asked her.

"What are Seapriezes?"

Luna smiled at him. "They're quite unpleasant creatures, you usually find them in places near the sea. They suck out all your happy emotions and give you back hate and anger. With prompt treatment they aren't so serious but I'm afraid sometimes they can be permanent."

Her tone was completely serious and Draco knew she meant every word so he just nodded and left back up the stairs.

* * *

In the weeks that followed Draco found himself drawn to Luna. Every chance he could, he'd flee to the dungeons and listen to her talking nonsense through the bars of her cell. It was like an addiction – anytime he was away from her, he longed to be back in her calming presence – listening to her oddly disconnected voice and looking into her calm blue eyes. His mother had noticed but had not yet commented, and for that Draco was very grateful. He didn't know what he'd do if he was no longer allowed to talk with Luna. He wasn't sure how he'd survived so long without her.

It was early March when the unthinkable happened. Draco had gone down to bring Luna her breakfast. She was there along with the other prisoners, all of whom still ignored him, and she drifted over smiling as she always did. Draco smiled back as he handed her food to her through the bars.

"I'm going to miss you Draco," Luna told him sweetly.

His eyes went wide. "What do you mean? I'm not going anywhere," he told her quickly and Luna shook her head a small knowing smile pulling on her lips.

"Not yet...but I know when the time comes, you'll do the right thing."

Draco was going to answer but was startled by his Aunt's screeching as it tore through the house. He looked up, knowing he should go and find out what was happening, but he couldn't seem to pull himself away from where he had grabbed Luna's hands between the bars.

She squeezed his hands and released him, the kind smile never leaving her face. "Goodbye Draco. I'll see you when it's over," Luna told him.

Draco could only stare back at her longingly for a moment before departing back up the stairs.

* * *

After Potter was gone, Draco rushed to the dungeons but wasn't surprised by what he found there. He'd known as soon as that house elf appeared that Luna would be saved. Potter wasn't the type to leave his friends rotting in a dungeon. He kept reminding himself of Luna's final promise.

"I'll see you when it's over."

He forced himself to believe it, because the idea that he may not see Luna again was simply unbearable.

* * *

The battle was over. The dust had settled and Draco was left not quite welcome in the Great Hall but not ejected either. He let his eyes search over the wreckage and bodies searching ceaselessly for that long blond hair and those wide blue eyes. From the corner of his eye he caught sight of her as she slipped out the doors and onto the grounds. He breathed a sigh of relief when he realized Luna was not among the dead. Without thinking Draco gave chase.

He rushed passed the wreckage and bodies in his pursuit of her. He finally caught up to her near the ruined remains of the Quidditch Pitch, where she had stopped seemingly, as if she were just waiting for him to arrive. He quickly caught up to her, not even caring that his hair was a mess and he was panting slightly.

She smiled at him. "Hello Draco." Her voice was almost musical and he could tell how happy she was in that moment. It was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

"Luna I have to tell you, and I understand if you want nothing to do with me, I mean – you were held captive in my home. I'm a Death Eater. I tortured innocent Muggles. I didn't want to but I did it and I understand if you can't move past that but I – I just had to tell you—"

"Sometimes words become superfluous, Draco, but I know a lovely trick to help us move past that," Luna interrupted him Draco gaped at her. "Err. . .Look Luna what I'm trying to say is if you'll have me I—"

Luna cut him off again but this time it was with warm soft lips on his own, her arms around his neck pulling him close. For a moment, Draco didn't move, but as those lips continued to press and move gently against his own he let out a happy sigh, wrapping his arms around Luna and kissing her in return.


End file.
